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Thursday, May 15, 2014

I'm in Fukuoka!

Thursday, May 15, 2014
Kawachi Fuji Garden
Tanga Market

Hi everyone! Randy and I are spending a week in Fukuoka...I was in search for the Wisteria Garden in Yahata. My friend Jenny told me about this place a couple of years ago and I was just dying to come and see it. You never heard of it? Yah it doesn't seem too popular, I don't know why, it's gorgeous! So if you catch it during peak season, this is what it should look like:

So you see why I was so excited, right?? So excited that we got off one stop too early. But that's ok, we got to sit down and eat our musubis since we didn't wanna eat it on the train. So, if you plan to go, you can take a train (JR Kagoshima Line) from Hakata Station, direct to Yahata Station. It's about an hour ride. DON'T get off at Kurosaki Station like we did (unless you're hungry and want to eat your musubi)

We made it!

When you get out of the station, go to the left and you will see a bus stop. I read somewhere that you can catch the #56 bus and get off at the Elementary school. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT GO THIS ROUTE! It's a hell of a trek up to the Garden. Instead, wait at the bus stop and take the free shuttle up to the onsen. The bus will look like this:

When you finally get to the onsen (it's a pretty far drive), go back out to the entrance and walk up the hill about 400 yards and the garden will be on the right.

by the time I saw this sign I was so excited!!

Then UGH. Craaaaaaaaap. Uh, yah. Damnit. I missed it by one week. One stinkin week! We met up with a guy named Logan from New Zealand and he was disappointed too. Here's what I got...

I can just imagine how pretty it must've been...

The view from up there was gorgeous!

I was thinking of making our christmas card from this place this year but I guess not...

After we were done at this place I made the mistake of asking Logan how we were gonna get back to the station. He said he was gonna walk back to the bus stop if we wanted to join him. I didn't realize how far it was. We shoulda just took the shuttle back. My feet were so sore, getting blisters (wrong kind of socks) and I was just plain tired. It musta been aboiut 2 miles that we had to walk to finally get to the bus stop. There was one plus side, there was a pretty lake that I could get some pictures of along the way

After about an hour we finally made it to the bus stop. So we thought. We had no idea what time the bus was coming so we ended up waiting for another 20 minutes. Then the bus shows up and the guy tells us this wasn't the bus stop and we had to walk another 40 yards down the street.

So, if you're stupid enough to walk like us then this is where the bus stop is

When the bus came to its final destination, IT WASN'T EVEN YAHATA STATION!!! Waaaaahhh!!! Shiiiiiit. We had to walk another half a mile or so back to the station. That really sucked. I swear we must've wasted about 2 hours by not taking the shuttle. Now I got sore feet and I had to go buy some vaseline from the pharmacy. Thank god he could understand a little english!

Since we came all this way I told Randy we should go to Tanga Market. It's one of the oldest in Japan, and it's sorta like Ameyoko or Tsukiji Market. From Yahata Station, jump back on the train to Kokura Station (get back on the same line you got off on). When you get to Kokura Station, hop on the monorail and go two stops (100¥) and get off at Tanga Station. The marketplace is right downstairs

I was too pooped to take any pictures in here, plus there wasn't anything special. Except this:

2900¥ for mango??? What daaa??

Forgot to take pics at dinner too, I was too exhausted. We went into a local bar and ate sashimi, yakitori and chicken wings. It was really good. Couldn't read a damn thing on the menu and the staff could barely speak Englsh. We got lucky!

See you guys tomorrow!

Oh yah, if you wanna see more pics of what the garden is supposed to look like, go check it out here:
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/02/wisteria-flower-tunnel-kawachi-fuji-garden-kitakyushu-japan

6 comments:

It's still VERY PRETTY, Les! Can't believe No. 56 bus was not the way to go. Mostly all of the directions said to take that bus. I think I read only one review that mentioned the onsen bus. How far from Hakata are you guys willing to travel? Besides the usual Kumamoto Castle and Nagasaki, Randy might be interested in visiting the Kyushu Hita Brewery . I looooove your adventure so far!! Keep the updates coming!!

Yah, I woulda been pretty pissed if I took the bus. One other thing, it don't stop at the elementary school, that little turn around place where we waited for the bus was the end of the line!! That was a good 1/4 mile from the elementary school!

Brewery? Hmmm I can ask him, it's near Beppu, and we're gonna go to an onsen there later this week. Geez. That's all he needs...more alcohol :-O

I LOVE wisteria - they are such wonderful delicate trees. I even brought back a little tree from Japan once - it was a pain because I had to make sure that it didn't have a speck of dirt, so the poor little tree was a bit in shock. It did okay for a while and I gave it to the Wisteria Restaurant.

Don't know what happened to it, but they didn't seem too thrilled at the time.

Even if it was a week late, it was still so beautiful! Thanks for sharing,

Hi Honolulu Aunty!Hmmm...I wish I could say the Wisteria were beautiful, but mines weren't :(. I guess I've seen the pictures so I gotta believe you. I wonder if the Wisteria Restaurant even knew what the plant was! I had no idea what it looked like till Jenny showed me the pictures.

Bummer!!!! I didn't read the caption at first and thought... ummmm maybe I'd better rethink my trip time next year. Had a feeling you might miss it since your trip was in May. Oh well- enjoy the rest of your trip!